


fire that’s closest kept burns most of all

by probablyaceok



Series: Cy’s DSMP Febuwhump Attempt [22]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon Temporary Character Death, Character Study, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mentioned TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Wilbur Soot, Pandora’s Vault, Prisoner Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29642793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probablyaceok/pseuds/probablyaceok
Summary: Febuwhump Day 21: BurnedDream thinks back on how it all started and how he got to where he is now.
Series: Cy’s DSMP Febuwhump Attempt [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2140014
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	fire that’s closest kept burns most of all

The first time something burned, really burned, was back in the early days. Two lemon trees, revenge for a prank,

Later, another burns, an ‘accident’, with a house burnt as revenge, something he does his best to resolve, to stop the fighting. Instead, he gets killed. Not a proper death, not important enough to take up one of the precious three that everyone has, but it means enough to him that he steals those two discs for the first time. They fight over for the discs for a time, before a trade is made and the discs are locked away safely.

The next time something burns, it’s a house again. Two friends are fighting, but it doesn’t escalate so he doesn’t step it.

A disc is burned (no one he knows) but the owner is paid reparations for it.

With the revolution comes more burning. TNT is set off, buildings and land are destroyed. And a fire inside him is lit, an anger that they would come to his home, with its simple three rules (don’t grief, don’t steal, don’t kill the dragon) and not only break them, but declare themselves above the rules that everyone else tries to follow? 

(He’s not an idiot, he knows rules have been broken before, but back then he could be a peacekeeper, not declared a tyrant).

The discs change hands again. Another fair trade, the other lost the duel he agreed to after all.

One of the discs changes hands later, traded away for a piece of leather. It wouldn’t mean much to anyone but him, but it has sentimental value to him. It’s worth it.

The other is lost to its original owner once more.

Another tree gets burnt down, revenge for the death of a dog. Trees never seem to last he thinks to himself.

There’s peace, well as much peace as there can be, for a while. They hold an election, and he’s somewhat happy they’re trying to be more than dictators of their little area.

A flag is the next thing that burns.

The last time he fought he was called a tyrant and that stings. He’ll keep to the peace treaty, help from the shadows. 

He does help burn the Eiffel Tower though. He’d offered to help them after all, and this wasn’t going against any treaty.

Blowing up the festival is suggested and he goes along with it. It’s always been a violent world, why stop there? He has enough supplies.

The festival goes terribly wrong, although not in the way he expected. Some of the others have burn scars now, the effects of the fireworks lingering. He didn’t even attend.

He’s offered a book, a book in exchange for his assistance. He doesn’t hesitate to take the deal. Weapons, equipment, even buildings, can all be replaced. People can’t.

They set a date for war.

When the day comes, he fights, and then surrenders. He was never really on their side. He’s content with the deal he’s made.

The country goes up in an explosion, and in the fighting he spots the man who set it all off, tattered clothing singed, looking out over the crater of his own creation before he dies.

And then there’s peace. For a time, he knows. There’ll always be more conflict.

He’s proven right when his friend's house is burnt down. Sure, the damage is small and it could be repaired easily, but he’s tired of just standing on the sidelines watching everything happen. Homes are always destroyed, he muses to himself. Does he even have one anymore?

Exile or imprisonment, he gives them the choice, gives them time to make their decision. It seems to all be going in his favour before they take out the leather he lost to them a while ago. The leather that was one of the few sentimental items he had left.

They threaten to burn it. At first he goes along, he cares about that leather, he doesn’t want it destroyed. But as he takes down the wall, as they watch and taunt him…

Something in him snaps.

Is he really going to do this for some sentimental item? Is he really going to be controlled because he cared too much about something? He turns against them and he sees how their expressions change as they regret their actions. He won’t stand down, not now.

They go through with exile. He brings the one he’s always fought with far away.

He burns the other ones things. Explodes them really. It was what the other had wanted to do with what he valued, it seemed only fair to him. He keeps coming back as well, the other doesn’t get many visitors. Maybe in time the other will understand what he does?

He burns his bridges. His friends turn against him and don’t even try to listen to his side of the story. He blows up their country.

Everything around him keeps going wrong and all he can seem to do is respond with destruction.

He learns they want to execute him.

He decides to sacrifice the place he used to call home.

He gets back those discs.

Their home goes up in explosions as he laughs on the grid above, watching the TNT fall, and he feels like he understands the man who last blew up this place.

If he can’t have it? No one can.

He leaves for a while after that. He wants to prepare. He does make sure his enemies home is destroyed again before he leaves. It burns like everything else does.

They meet on a mountain, and they fight, and he threatens them. He brings them down into the vault he made, not a home, but a place to keep things safe. 

There’s a confrontation, and he’s betrayed, and he’s killed because he couldn’t rid himself of that final attachment. He’s still able to take advantage of theirs, holding that book over their heads. He’s the only one who can bring back the dead, and people are the one thing you can’t replace.

They put him in a cell, surrounded on all sides by obsidian except for one wall of lava right in front of him. He sits there and he waits.

He waits.

He waits.

He waits.

He stands up and walks over to the lava. He wonders again, about that man. The one who brought change, who set off the series of events that led to him being where he is today.

He wonders how he felt on the day that he died.

He reaches out into the lava flowing down in front of him.

He burns.

_ Dream tried to swim in lava _

**Author's Note:**

> god I think this is the longest (creative) thing I’ve ever written in one go. was a lot longer than expected. lots of consulting the wiki, thanks wiki people. also c!Dream analysis people


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